I'm not sure how these bolts look off the show room floor, but they needed a little love on used forty-eight I just picked up. I figured somebody may find this interesting..




From left to right:

• Unworked bolt
• Wet sanded up to 1500
• Hit with #0000 steel wool after 1500 wet sand
• Finished off with Mothers mag polish

I don't have a workbench buffer/grinder, so this was just done by hand and finished off with a Dremel polishing wheel. I recon I could do most of the prominent bolts on the bike in about and hour or two(excluding removal!)

I improved my technique on both the wet-sanding and the Dremel polishing. My recommendation now, and what I will do in the future for button head bolts, would be to alternate between pushing/pulling the bolt head on the sandpaper and sanding along with the curvature between grits; personal preference is to end sanding with the curvature on the last grit. For the top I noticed the edge likes to take the sandpaper and prevent the paper from hitting all the inner surfaces so I ended up just spinning the bolt against the paper while pressing against it with my finger for each grit..

If you are using a Dremel polishing wheel.. I had trouble applying enough compound to the wheel itself so ended up putting a glob on the towel and just spinning the bolts in it to get an event coat; then hit it with the polishing wheel.

I've read about a lot of people using finger nail polish to seal the bolts against corrosion. I'm considering giving it a wipe with silicone lube and seeing how far that gets me.

Next time I might try using different grades of wool and completely forgo the sand paper. #0000 wool, and steel wool in general, is kinda magical.. Just read a forum thread from a guy that restored the clear coat on a car with it; pure craziness. Maybe I'll mix a compound with #0000 and see how far I get without a Dremel. There is so much information out there on polishing it's a bit mind boggling, but this process worked out fine for me.

 

A lot of work to polish bolts. I am currently polishing by lower sliders that I took off my bike...a lot of sanding and polishing. Have you considered just purchasing chrome bolts or chrome covers if needed. This is what I bought to cover my rear axle bolts. Shock bolt covers are also available.

 

I did consider bolt sets but spent a little too long looking and anticipated more time still. At a point the time spent looking, buying, and waiting is better spent just polishing the bolts. These needed to be off anyway for the suspension swap, and I wanted to do it this weekend without waiting for bolts or needing to take them back off

 

that mothers along with blue majic is the best for polishing. i used it while rebuilding my custom wheels on my car. love it! even love the smell of it! good stuff man!

 

I put them in my drill press with the head facing down; set the speed to a lowish one and take it from there! Can belt out polished bolts in no time at all!

 

I cannot stand the smell of the Blue Magic, but I will not complain about the results! Great stuff, and FYI it's on sale at Advance Auto right now, two jars for $10.

 

yea blue magic gets you in the nose like amonia does... i meant the smell of mothers lol

 

Mother's rules!! But I just got a bolt cover set from jpcycles, or Kuryakin (can't remember).